The thing with the Well is that while I can sort of see how it'd work in Toronto, I think a development like that would have a tougher go in Edmonton due to our climate. I know we're experiencing a very mild winter and it's likely to continue being more like this, but it does technically still tend to get cold here for large stretches of the year and I can't see that being good for business. Not because it's too cold to be outside (it's rarely that) but because, despite being a winter city, people don't know how to dress for it and wind up complaining about how cold it is because they haven't acclimated to it. And it's definitely not fun even if you are properly bundled up having to bundle down and then back up constantly popping in and out of little stores. The enclosed mall is still popular in northern climates for a reason and it makes a lot of sense. They could be better designed for sure but they aren't the worst idea for a place like Edmonton. The only reason why the preferred outward orientation of the big box centre works is because people aren't walking between stores, they're driving, and the stores are often so big that they spend a while in them anyway. But any sort of purely outside walking retail environment is very dependent on weather for half the year (well and even in the warmer months, it can be too hot, or raining).
